Speaking of transit

1. Don't forget that Maryland is committed to spending a lot more money to more than triple the capacity of the Maryland Railroad Commuter line. See "Fixes to MARC service to cost state $369 million" from the Gazette.

2. From today's Baltimore Sun comes the news, in "Top officials directing $340 million toward mass transit," that the Baltimore regional transportation board is directing more money to transit projects, reducing somewhat the heavily highway orientation that they had espoused previously.

See the B'More Mobile campaign for more.

3. Plus (and I haven't yet uploaded photos), it was exciting to see that the City of Baltimore/Mayor's Office had a booth at Artscape devoted to light rail/streetcar expansion within Baltimore, on the red line planning project there.

4. I haven't written about the "No train on Wayne " campaign regarding the Purple Line, because I haven't gotten around to uploading photos post-move. (But I have a bunch.) See "Wayne Ave. residents sign-on to Purple Line opposition" from the Gazette. Dr. Gridlock also did a very nice feature on the Purple Line in the Post, "Going Purple," and this followup, "Light Rail Trumps Bus Rapid Transit."

Plus there has been coverage of the anti-Purple Line campaign by the Columbia Country Club, in "Purple Line foes offer no ideas, and no names," from the Post.

Laurie DeWitt⁄The Gazette. Signs like this one are posted on lawns throughout the Seven Oaks-Evanswood neighborhood near downtown Silver Spring in protest of a Purple Line route along Wayne Avenue, the main road running through the residential community.

I really like Washcycle's take on the conversion of public land by the Columbia Country Club. He suggests, "Mr. Leggett, Tear Down This Fence," and take back from the Country Club the 88 feet of property that they are converting to their private use.

I hate to admit that I am starting to not like "rails to trails" programs because it ends up creating the opportunity for conflict to fight future revival of rail. Or if the national organization would change their name to "Rails & Trails" or "Rails to Trails to Rails" maybe I'd feel better about it.